Through the 2016 Stability Law (Law no. 208/2015), the Italian legislator has sought to achieve the goal of protecting the environment through a system of incentives aimed at small and medium enterprises which may also lead to an increase in consumption.
The following is an analysis of the provisions issued in the field of road haulage and in particular of those concerning:
- the exclusion, as from 1 January 2016, for Euro 2 or lower category vehicles from the tax credit relating to excise duties for vehicle fuel;
- the three year exemption of 80% of the social security contributions paid by employers for drivers of vehicles intended for the carriage of goods and passengers, equipped with digital tachographs and performing international transport activities for at least one hundred days per year;
- the reduction in the flat rate deductions related to undocumented expenses recognized to hauliers.
As for the incentives concerning the tax credit on the diesel excise duties for vehicles with a gross weight exceeding 7.5 tonnes, they are confirmed for vehicles belonging to categories higher than “Euro 2”, while before the 2016 stability law only “Euro 0” vehicles were excluded.
It is estimated that the above exclusion will yield 160 million euros per year from 2016 to 2020, 80 million euro for the year 2021 and 40 million euros for the year 2022 to the Italian State.
Pursuant to the Stability Law, 15% of any further savings will be used for measures aimed at encouraging the purchase of latest generation vehicles for carriage of goods by road, while the remaining 85% will flow in the fund for the purchase of vehicles for local and regional public passenger transport established by the stability law.
If, however, the actual savings are lower than the above predictions, the Minister of Economy and Finance, after consultation with the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, will redetermine the financial resources scheduled for other interventions established by the law in question. Particularly significant is the one -which is already partially uncertain in its formulation- relating to the three year 80% exemption of social security contributions, with the exclusion of the premiums and contributions due by employers to INAIL (the Italian national insurance institute for accidents at work) for drivers of vehicles over 3.5 tonnes (freight) or vehicles which are suitable -based on their construction and their equipment- for carrying over nine persons including the driver, and intended for this purpose (EC Regulation no. 561/2006), equipped with a digital tachograph and performing international transport activities for at least one hundred days per year.
Such an exemption is to be considered as “experimental” and its trial period which -as already mentioned- commenced on 1 January 2016 will last three years and may be subject to change according to the actual savings that will result from the exclusion of “Euro 1 “and” Euro 2 ” vehicles from the relief from the excise duty on diesel fuel for road transport.
Therefore, at least two critical elements arise:
- the above mentioned provisions regarding the relief from excise duty on the one hand, and the subject of social security contributions on the other, are in such a relationship of interdependence that the success of one would result in the downsizing of the effects of the other;
- the experimental and provisional regime has a limited number of users, who are selected according to the chronological order of submission of the exemption applications. In fact, in case of insufficient resources, the social security institution will not consider the last applications.
The system which is called “experimental” by the same law does therefore not seem able to allow the owners of trucking companies to be in the position to assess the outcome of their investments, and to hire new drivers whose job security would be linked to variables that are too hard to control.
In conclusion, it should also be noted that the 2016 Stability Law has confirmed the standardized deductions related to undocumented expenses paid to individual concerns or società in nome colletivo (partnerships), whose proprietors personally drive their vehicles.
As to this point, the novelty basically consists in the subdivision of the deductions in two groups, based on a territorial criterion. Transport operations performed by the proprietor outside the territory of the municipality where the business is based are entitled to the deductions in the same measure while transports carried out within the municipal territory are entitled to 35% deductions of the amount thus defined. Therefore, it is no longer possible to apply the distinction which had been applied earlier between regional and extra-regional transports.
In light of the above, while recognizing the usefulness of the Legislators’ intervention, it is also necessary to consider the ambiguities and reservations that characterize the measures and that lead to feel some kind of uncertainty.
(Bologna Office – Graziano Marangi – 0039(0)51 2750020)
